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Femi Otedola's holding in First HoldCo reached about $1.14 billion after he bought a further 138,041,465 shares on Thursday at ₦131.2 each.
The purchase cost ₦18.11 billion, roughly $13.03 million, and was made through Calvados Global Services Limited, Otedola's single family office. It was executed on the Nigerian Exchange, and First HoldCo disclosed it on Friday in a notification signed by group company secretary Abiola Baruwa.
His total is now 12,094,630,729 shares, about 26.17% of the company by Billionaires.Africa's calculation, up from 25.87%. At the price he paid the holding is worth ₦1.587 trillion. Marked against Monday's intraday high of ₦137.20, it comes to ₦1.659 trillion, or $1.19 billion.
Seventeen days, ₦318 billion
Thursday's purchase is the third Otedola has disclosed since 22 July.
He announced 706,131,179 newly acquired shares that day which he purchased for ₦77.59 billion through the same vehicle. He followed with 1,779,094,976 shares at ₦124.9 on 30 July, spending ₦222.21 billion. Adding Friday's tranche, he has acquired roughly 2.62 billion shares in seventeen days at a cost of about ₦318 billion, or $229 million.
That pace matters because of what sits ahead of it.
Under the Investments and Securities Act 2025 and the Securities and Exchange Commission's Rules on Mergers, Takeovers and Acquisitions, an investor crossing 30% of a listed company must make a mandatory offer for the remainder unless the commission grants an exemption. On the share count implied by the company's filings, that threshold sits near 13.87 billion shares.
He holds 12.09 billion. The gap is about 1.77 billion shares, which would cost roughly ₦232 billion, or $167 million, at Thursday's price.
What he has said he is doing
Otedola told Nairametrics this week that his investment threshold is always above 51% and that he is on the same trajectory at First HoldCo, citing Forte Oil, where he went from 28% to 75% before selling in 2019, and Geregu Power, where he moved from 51% to 95% and then to 77% after listing.
He described First HoldCo as a long-term generational commitment unlike his previous involvements, and disclosed that he has invested more than ₦600 billion of personal wealth in the company. He has said repeatedly that the money is his own rather than borrowed.
The bank he is buying
First HoldCo overtook Zenith Bank on 20 July to become Nigeria's most valuable lender. It touched an all-time high of ₦137.20 on Monday and passed ₦6 trillion in market value.
The group reported pre-tax profit of ₦653.54 billion for the six months to 30 June, an increase of 83.5%, with profit after tax up 81.57% to ₦526.13 billion and an annualised return on average equity of 30.4%. Shares closed 2025 at ₦47.90.
The board committed on 28 July to distributing at least 60% of profit after tax each year, subject to regulatory approval. On first-half earnings that implies roughly ₦315.7 billion available for distribution, of which Otedola's current holding would take about ₦82.6 billion.
First HoldCo is the holding company for First Bank of Nigeria, founded in 1894 and the oldest financial institution in the country. Otedola became chairman in January 2024, after the Central Bank of Nigeria dissolved the previous boards in April 2021 over corporate governance breaches.
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